Garment-holder.



' B. J. BUGKINGHAM.

GARMENT HOLDER. APPLICATION mum auras, 1907. I

Patentedlwar. 19m.

NDREW a GRAHAM ca. HmO-LHMQGRAFREM W SM mama). u U.

IINITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN J. BUGKINGHAM, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN-MENTS, TO BUCKINGI-IAM-RAE COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATIONOF ILLINOIS.

GARMENT-HOLDER.

antes.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 23, 1907.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN J. BUCK- INGHAM, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residin at Chicago, in the county of Cook and tate of Illinois,have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Garment-Holders,of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to garment holders and has for its object toprovide a device whereby skirts, trousers and other garments may besupported, particularly when desired to be hung in private homes, rooms,closets and the like.

The device is made in several sizes, but in the accompanying drawings Ihave shown the invention as applied to hold six large garments.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, whereinFigure 1 is a plan view of one form of device; Fig. 2, a side elevationof the same; Fig. 3, a cross section on line 33 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4:is a plan of a modification.

Like parts are indicated by the same letters in all the figures.

The support consists, as shown in the illustration, of the upper plate Acontinuous with the back plate B and the lower plate C continuous withthe back plate D, and the upwardly turned front portion E which is alsocontinuous with the bottom plate C. These parts are held together bymeans of the screw bolts F, F. The front plate E is provided with aseries of slots like that shown at G in Fig. 3, to receive the innerends of the spring fingers J, J and K, K which are formed of fiat springmetal like clock steel, arched at the outer ends and formed into loops.The loops K lie inside of and in close proximity to the loops J, J whichare in close proximity to each other through substantially all theirlength. I use the term loops and fingers interchangeably.

At each side of the support is one rigid finger L of approximately thesame length as the spring fingers, and outwardly curved at its outer endso as to form between it and the next adjacent spring finger an entrywayof substantially the same size and shape as that between spring fingerswhen associated together. These outer rigid fingers are received betweenthe top and bottom plates A and O, and secured by two pairs of screw 7bolts F, F. The back plate D is perforated at M so that it can be easilyhung upon or attached to a vertical support.

My drawing is to be taken as diagrammatic and illustrative of a singleform of the invention, or as an illustration of a form of device whichcontains my invention. Figs. 1 and 4 show modifications, themodification consisting in compressing the inner loops K. These innerloops are approximately one-half the length of the outer, and theirarches are considerably removed from the rigid supporting plates A andC. By this arrangement I have means whereby articles having varyingholding lengths may be successfully supported. Thus an article of alength approximately equal to the distance between XX on Fig. 1 is heldby elastic grip at each end of its holding length, the arches of theseveral spring or loop fingers furnishing such elastic grip. If thearticle has a still greater gripping length, as for example a lengthequal to the line YY of Fig. 1, it can still be held with an elasticgrip approximately at each end of such holding line. An article whoseholding line is ZZ will be held at three points along that line in amore or less satisfactory manner. It will be understood that in such astructure there is a tendency of the springs to open out or weaken theirgrip between the points V, V and the points V V and that the principalgripping efiect takes place at or near the points V, V V

The use and operation of my invention are as follows: The garment to besupported as, for example, a skirt, is folded so as to present thedeslred holding length and then inserted between any two of the springloops Y, Y or between either of the rigid fingers L, L and thecontiguous spring loop or finger. The fingers L, L perform the doublefunction of furnishing, in cooperation with the adjacent spring fingers,a gripping unit, and a support for the entire group of spring fingers.If these spring fingers are used without the rigid supports on bothsides of the group they would be free to spread and to be displaced. Bythe use of these relatively inexpensive rigid fingers I secure, asillustrated in the drawing, six gripping or clamping units with fiveother spring fingers. The inner spring fingers are auxiliary to theothers, although of course, articles can be inserted between the outersurface of an inner spring finger and the inner surface of the outer orlonger spring fingers.

' I claim:

1. A garment holder comprising a support, a group of fiat spring loopfingers projecting therefrom, and two rlgld fingers secured to thesupport and each in contact with one of the outer spring fingers of thegroup.

2. A garment holder comprising a support, a group of flat spring loopfingers projecting therefrom, and two rigid fingers secured. to thesupport and each in contact with one of the outer spring fingers of thegroup, said rigid fingers outwardly curved so as to present a series ofrelatively unlform entry-ways between the several fingers.

8. A garment holder comprising a support, a group of fiat spring loopfingers projecting. therefrom, two rigid fingers secured to the supportand each in contact with one of the outer spring fingers of the group,and one spring loop finger inside of and approximately one-half thelength of each of the outer spring loop fingers.

4. A garment holder comprising a support, a group of fiat spring loopfingers projecting-therefrom, two rigid fingers secured to the supportand each in contact with one of the outer spring fingers of the group,said rigid fingers outwardly curved so as to present a series ofrelatively uniform entry-ways between the several fingers, and onespring loop finger inside of and allel spaced plates, a back plate whichprojects beyond the planes of the spaced plates whereby the holder maybe securely mounted, a slotted front plate, means for securing theseveral plates together, and a series of fiat spring loop fingers placededgewise between the parallel plates and projecting forwardly from theback plate through the slots.

6. A garment holder comprising a support consisting of two plates, aback plate whereby it may be secured or mounted, and a slotted frontplate, means for securing the parts together, a series of fiat springloop fingers projecting forwardly from such sup-- port through suchslots, and two rigid end fingers in contact each with one of the outerspring loop fingers and both secured to the support.

7. A garment holder comprising a support consisting of two approximatelyparallel spaced plates, at backplate, a slotted front plate, means forsecuring the plates together, and a series of fiat spring looped fingersset edgewise between the parallel plates and projecting forwardly fromthe back plate through the slots.

BENJAMIN J. BUCKINGI'IAM.

\Vitnesses ABBLE E. JoHNsoN, SOPHIE B. WERNER.

